Sometimes this road gets immensely difficult to walk.
The last few months are a case in point. Besides all the reasons we had to move office which we will one day reveal, finding a place at the right budget was crazy mad. Rentals in Harare are on an interesting trajectory northwards.
Then one of our team members was mugged, lost his laptop, a camera and other valuables.
And last week, a car accident that saw another team member escape miraculously unhurt.
All this amid the continuous daily circus of power cuts, water cuts, clients that won’t pay, staffing issues, etc.
It’s all too easy to give up- and about a month ago I was at the closest point I have ever come to letting go. It was a crazy experience. I knew that I would not do it, but the weight of it all on one’s shoulders sometimes is enough to push one to the far end of the can-do spectrum.
There are so many reasons why I will not give up; The many people who believe in this dream and continue to support us, the pure magic that fills many of the hours spent spreading the jam on Zimbabwean bread, and the fact that I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is where I am supposed to be, this is what I am supposed to be doing.
But even that sometimes is not enough and one needs a trigger to get you fired up again. For me, this time, it was meeting a young man of two years old in May. He calls me ‘Papa Fungaya’ and I developed a relationship with him in a few weeks that warmed me up in a deep paternal sort of way.
I have no children of my own- yet – but this kid brought out the father in me, the sense of responsibility that says you cannot give up because what will you tell him when he can understand you.
Last year, an old friend of mine, an 88 year old man passed away. We used to sit for hours and talk, sipping on Brandy and munching crisps. His name was Paddy and I learnt a lot from him, from trout fishing to bits of history about Zimbabwe. In developing the relationship with my young new friend, I kept thinking about my relationship with Paddy. The baton has been passed on.
Thank you Kitso. Papa Fungaya will not kill the Jam.
Fungai